


The One With The Bet

by kaerose_13



Series: A Series of Unfortunately Short Stories [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 10:50:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6371833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaerose_13/pseuds/kaerose_13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Derek had made a dumb bet with Boyd and Isaac at the exact moment Stiles had come back to town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One With The Bet

**Author's Note:**

> I was told that I should probably write things based on myself if I have nothing else to do so here we are; a stupid bet made by stupid people based on real people.

“Just stop please.”

“ _Stop_?” Golden eyes that were once full of light and happiness were pits into the abyss. “You want _me_ to stop?”  
  
“You’re overreacting!” Derek regretted the words the second they came out of his cursed mouth and he braced himself for the aftermath.  
  
“I am not _overreacting_ Derek,” He winced at Stiles’ dangerously calm tone; he couldn’t decide if he was scared of him or not, magic aside. “ _I_ am not the one who made a stupid bet over some stupid cheap drinks.”  
  
Definitely scared.  
  
“It’s fucking ironic that it was _you_ who made a fool out of me.” Stiles choked on the words, silent tears running down his face while his fingertips sparked dangerously. “I thought I could trust you, I thought that it was real but all it really was, was a couple of drunken boys making fucking terrible decisions.”  
  
“ _It was real_.” Derek moved forward but stopped when Stiles glared at him. “Everything I said, everything I did was real. I did fall in love with you, _fuck_ , I’ve _always_ been in love with you. I know we all messed up Stiles, bu-“  
  
“ _Don’t_.” More sparking.  
  
“What?”  
  
“You don’t get to sound like that, like _you’re_ the one hurting, like you’re the one who was played.” Derek could’ve sworn that his heart had just broken. In all his time he had been friends with Stiles, he never saw him react so violently towards anyone, let alone Derek. He was like a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth and Derek would have laughed if it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t breathe. It never occurred to him that Stiles would explode over something so stupid, but then again Derek hadn’t seen him for three years; didn’t know the person he had become, didn’t deserve to know.  
  
“You should be so proud of your pups, Derek.” Stiles spat viciously.

“Please,” He whispered, moving forward again, “Don’t do this. Don’t blame them, I was the one who took up the bet.”

“I suppose you're right,” Stiles wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand, fixing Derek with a look that made him want to be anywhere but here. “But it doesn’t excuse the fact that you guys made a bet in the first place, especially on whoever walked through the bar first. You could have told me at anytime, any one of you, but you chose to keep your mouths shut. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? That I wouldn’t have a clue that I was just a piece of meat?”

Something in Derek snapped.

“ _A piece of meat_?” He snarled, surprising both him and Stiles. “You were never a piece of meat.” He didn’t know why that suddenly made him so furious. The wolf in him howled in protest, yearning for Stiles; his pack, his emissary, his _mate_.

Stiles’ mouth popped open as if to say something but he closed it, lips pressed into a thin line. In any other situation Derek would have wanted to pull him in close and kiss him, hold Stiles tight and make things right but everything was too far gone now. The look in his eyes said as much. Derek hadn’t even noticed Stiles’ eyes changing back to their original color, all traces of the black coldness gone.

“You were my best friend Derek.” Voice breaking as Derek tried his hardest not to not fall at Stiles’ feet and beg for forgiveness, bare his throat in submission. “You were the one person besides Scott, I could trust to tell me anything; someone who would protect me. Now I don’t even know who you are.”

“You – Don’t say that.” Derek said, stepping back from the broken man in front of him. “You left me behind.”

“No-“

“I’m sure you remembered how that went down, no?” Derek cut him off quickly changing the subject. “We were at your graduation party and I just remember feeling so proud of you and you looked so fucking happy it hurt, surrounded by our pack and I was already drunk on Isaac’s beer that I didn’t even think twice about it. So I went to you and told you everything. I told you what you meant to me, how I couldn't stand to just be your friend and you didn’t even flinch; you just patted me on the head like a dog and ran.”  
Stiles managed to look contrite despite his angry disposition less than a minute ago. The space that separated them seemed to get bigger in the silence that followed Derek’s voice. He could tell that his words hit home, of course Stiles would remember.

“I didn’t find out you skipped town until two days later.” He continued, eyes burning at the memory. “You didn’t even have the decency to tell me but the Sheriff did. It was almost as if he enjoyed telling me that the one person who I could ever love had just disappeared without a trace; without a goodbye.”

Derek could tell Stiles wanted to speak, to argue his point, but he barreled on instead.

“The funny thing is I didn’t even hate you, I mean I tried to in the weeks that followed but it just wasn’t in my heart to hate you.” He half laughed, half sobbed. “God, I was so fucking stupid to believe you would even come back for me but then there you were and you had changed so much – Isaac and Boyd didn’t even realize it was you – but I did. I knew I shouldn’t have put you in the bet. I should’ve said no or chosen someone else, but I was drunk.”

Stiles rolled his watering eyes, turning around to sit down on the bench he had been sharing with Derek, cuddling together against the cold. His hair was crackling with static energy, longer than it had ever been and he scuffed his shoes against the concrete. Derek waited for him to look up but he didn’t.

“It was then that I realized what you were – what you are to me. I didn’t even want to know why you left or why you came back; I just wanted to know how you were. I forgave you the second you smiled at me, Stiles and I don’t regret anything about you except for the bet. Everything I said these past weeks, I meant. I’m so in love with you it scares me.”

“You don’t mean that.” Stiles mumbled, glaring up at him. “Otherwise you would have stopped the bet. You would have told me then and there when I came over to the table.”

“I was drunk.” He reminded the younger man forcefully, searching his face. “I wasn’t thinking straight. If Scott were there maybe things would have been different. I wish they were.“

“Stiles,” Coming closer, Derek invaded his space. “I was an idiot and I was definitely a coward but I will never allow this to ruin our friendship, not after I’ve worked so hard to keep it. You know me inside and out, everything about my life; my flaws, my mistakes.”

“You could have said something. Anything. How hard was it drop in a ‘by the way we made a bet about how long it takes for me to fuck the next person that walks in’ you dumbass.”

It was easy to tell Stiles was still fighting him, holding on to the remnants of an argument he had already gotten over. Derek sensed as much, kneeling down in front of him.

“I want to fix this. I want to make it right. I’ll do anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://www.kaerose13.tumblr.com) for questions xx


End file.
